Temasek and Fidelity have purchased shares worth $200 million in Indian eyewear startup Lenskart, financial advisor Avendus said in a statement Monday.
The transaction valued Lenskart, which leads the Indian market and is increasingly expanding overseas, at $5 billion, the startup’s founder and chief executive Peyush Bansal told TechCrunch in a text message.
Temasek is an existing backer of Lenskart. The new investment follows Lenskart raising $500 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority last year.
The 13-year-old Indian eyewear startup, which also counts SoftBank and Alpha Wave Global among its backers, sells eyeglasses, sunglasses, contact lenses and other eyewear accessories. It has become one of the largest eyewear players in India by undercutting the competition, offering premium glasses at affordable prices.
Lenskart has been able to keep prices low by bringing greater efficiency to the sector, Bansal told TechCrunch in an earlier interview. The startup manufactures its own glasses and contact lenses, and is the exclusive Indian licensing partner for many global eyewear technologies.
With operations spanning India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Lenskart sells its products online and through more than 2,500 stores, most of which are in India.
India’s vision correction market remains significantly underserved, with only a small percentage of the population currently using glasses or contact lenses, despite hundreds of millions requiring them.
“This investment by renowned global investors underscores the uniqueness of Lenskart’s disruptive model and highlights the excitement surrounding one of the most anticipated IPOs in India in the coming years,” said Neeraj Shrimali, MD of Digital and Investment Banking at Avendus Capital, in a statement.
“We are excited about what lies ahead for Lenskart & Peyush. In our view, more late-stage tech companies will continue to garner strong investor interest demonstrating the robustness and excitement of the Indian consumer tech landscape.”
